Rob McElhenney and Ryan Reynolds have transformed Wrexham since their arrival in Wales.
The footballing world was taken by surprise in 2021 when Rob McElhenney and Ryan Reynolds decided to buy a football club.
Reynolds is a world-renowned name after starring in many Hollywood blockbusters, most notably Deadpool.
McElhenney, meanwhile, has garnered a huge following over the years for his role in the hit US comedy series, Always Sunny in Philadelphia.
In turn, it came as a major shock when the pair took control of the Red Dragons from their Supporters Trust in February 2021.
Barring some play-off disappointment in their full first season at the Racecourse Ground, Wrexham have enjoyed great success under their American owners.
Phil Parkinson was brought into the dugout ahead of the 2021/22 season and managed to take them to the play-off semi-finals.
The following campaign saw Parkinson guide the club out of the National League for the first time in 15 years and the success has continued to come.
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How Sunderland helped Rob McElhenney and Ryan Reynolds buy Wrexham
The Welsh outfit spent 2023/24 in League Two, winning promotion after just one season in the fourth tier.
Their 2024/25 campaign has also got off to a sensational start, with the club currently sitting joint-top of League One after four games.
Now, an insight into how McElhenney and Reynolds came to purchase Wrexham has been revealed in the book ‘Tinseltown: Hollywood and the Beautiful Game – a Match Made in Wrexham’, by Ian Herbert.
Humphrey Ker, now an executive at Wrexham, suggested to McElhenney that he watch the Sunderland Till I Die documentary.
The first episode of the documentary is said to have ‘made an immediate impression’ on the Always Sunny star.
After completing the doc, McElhenney messaged Ker and told him ‘We should do something like this. We should buy a football club. We should make a documentary. Can we buy a football club? Which could we buy?’
Ker got back to McElhenney a few days later and asked the actor ‘I don’t suppose you have heard of a town called Wrexham?’
Rob McElhenney and Ryan Reynolds nearly bought another club before Wrexham
Had it not been for Sunderland producing their own documentary, Wrexham as we know it probably would not exist today.
The book details how Aldershot Town, Bolton Wanderers, Hartlepool United, Notts County and Macclesfield Town were all looked at as potential purchases by the pair before they eventually settled on Wrexham.
Had McElhenney and Reynolds not decided to purchase the club, it is hard to imagine where they would be now.
The Welsh outfit were scraping by in the National League and showed no real sign of making it back back into the EFL pyramid anytime soon.
Finances were limited owing to the fans having control of the club and player wages were struggling to be paid on time.
American owners are not always great when they come to England, but Wrexham have found themselves a serious pair of gems in McElhenney and Reynolds and have Sunderland to thank for it.